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 The Story of how Last Wolf MCC came to be.............by Phil Jones

(Some Time Ago..........................)

Over the past few years there had always been a few bikes outside the White Lion Inn at Barthomley (Cheshire).  I had called there on a number of occasions for a couple of pints and to chat to some of the lads who I had come to know over the years.

Guy was one of them.  We both come from the same neighbouring village of Audley and came to meet at the White Lion pretty often.  One day Guy and his mate 'Bon' were sitting outside the White Lion, watching all the bikes coming and going when Guy said "How about starting a Bike Club?" They agreed it was a good idea so they then asked Terry, the publican of the pub if he had any objection to it.  Terry said he thought it was a great idea.  About a week later Guy mentioned this idea to me.  I too thought it was a great idea and said to Guy that I wouldn't mind helping to run it.  So Guy, Ian and myself, along with a few others formed what was then known as 'The Barthomley Motorcycle Club'.

Terry also ran another pub 'The Raven' , near Winsford.  It had a field at the rear of the pub and we realised that this would be a good venue for our first rally.  We got the ok from Terry and then set about trying to organise the rally.  We met up at the White Lion to discuss the details, one of the first was to decide what to call the rally. 

I had recently been reading a book on the history of Audley and Barthomley and had come accross an interesting article which mentioned that the last wolf to roam wild in England was actually hunted down and killed in a wood near Barthomley.  So I said, "How about calling it The Last Wolf Rally?" We all agreed and so it was that we held our very first  'Barthomley MCC's Last Wolf Rally'

This first rally was a great success, we could only afford a marquee big enough to fit the bands in, everyone else had to stand outside!!!  Anyway a week after the rally, we decided to change the name of the club from 'Barthomley MCC' to :Last Wolf MCC' - we then decided to call our second rally 'Full Moon Rally' and we have kept with this name ever since.

From little acorns great oaks grow and this was true about the club.  At one time we had a membership of around 90, although most of these members at that time were sports bike riders and were not really onto the rally scene.  We were doing more and more rallies and eventually some of the sports bike riders realised that Last Wolf MCC wasn't for them and eventually moved on

These days we have a hardcore membership of around 50, a good crowd of male and female bike and rally enthusiasts.  The rest as they say, is history.............................................................

....................talking of which, lets read about the Last Wolf's Story. 

Let's go back a few hundred years for this 'True Story'...........

....On a distant bitter cold winter's day, a woodsman stood gazing down at one of the Sire's Red Deer, laying still and covered in blood.

"Excuse me Sire, I have bad news M'lud, I was felling a yew when I heard a wolf howling alongside the Mere Moss Wood.  It was 'Lupus' the grey wolf I fear, that has killed another one of your prize Red Deer".

"Woodsman, that wolf has drawn breath for the very last time, death is now the only punishment to fit the crime".

At the break of dawn as the mist rose from the mere, the baying of wolfhounds could be heard loud and clear.  They were on the scent of the grey wolf for killing the deer, the smell of death was in the air and getting ever near.

Earl Ranulph Crewe and Henry Lord Audley, the Sire, hunted and killed the wolf in Mere Moss Wood, near Barthomley, Cheshire.  The wolf's shadow upon this land would no longer be cast for you to see.  All that roamed wild in Old England, 'Lupus' the grey wolf, was the last........

The English Wolf has now long gone, into the mists of time, to live and survive was it's only crime.  We agreed it's story must never die, so in the memory of 'Lupus', the Woodsman, the Sire and Ranulph, we renamed our motorcycle club 'Last Wolf'

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For all of you that are not familiar with where we meet, all through the 'long hot' summer months we generally get together once a week on a Wednesday evening down The White Lion Pub at Barthomley (you also get some of us doing this through the winter months - but lets not name & shame those who don't!!!).  There is only one exception to this and that is when we have our Monthly Club Meeting - these are held on the last Wednesday of each month.

As a club we try to support and attend as many other club rallies as we can, some of us do a rally most weekends so I am sure you will get to know some of us at one rally or another, we look forward to it.  Our own rally is held in September so hopefully we will get together with friends old and new at that.

We occasionally organise Camping Weekends and Sunday Runs, we post all events on the pub notice board and will be keeping our events diary up to date on this website also.

Well that's all for now, please e-mail us or sign into the guestbook and let us know where you are & what you're up to.

LWMCC